Power and Empire: Three thousand and sixty-six burning prairie fire (27)

On the bend in the heavy rain, the rain splashed into mud

Li Long rode on the horse, his eyes swept over the orders given by the emperor in his hand, his face was gloomy and afraid of others, and it took more than ten seconds before he raised his head and looked at the arrogant Yu Fenglong in front of him, with a few corners of his mouth sticking out. He said with a sad smile. "If it's someone else, I'm afraid that I've been hiding as far or far away. I'm afraid I'll get a bit of the Li family's side. Master Hong Leong will even run a trip personally. Anyway, my Li family is still Thank you Hong Leong for this friendship"

"Your Majesty Li Long is too polite and welcomes your majesty to return to the south. The Li family says it is all merit. Your Majesty has not yet returned to the south, so he treats the Li family like this, it is really... Such an order naturally has your Majesty’s thoughts. I hope Master Li Long can do it for himself!" Yu Fenglong shook his head and sighed, pretending to be compassionate, "Since your Majesty wants me to stay in the north of the river to take charge of affairs, then this When your Majesty returns south, I'll rely on Master Hong Leong to bother." Li Long grinned, with a frustrated look on his face, letting Yu Fenglong on the opposite side see it completely,

"Don’t worry, Lord Li Long, your Majesty returns south, I will do my best. When your Majesty returns south, your anger towards the Li family has calmed down. I will look for more opportunities to speak for Li’s family, and believe that Master Li Long will call back the Dahe Dao. It won’t be too long for Zhinan." Yu Fenglong arched his hands gleamingly. I don’t know that people think that this person has a lot of affection for the Li family.

"Master Lao Fenglong is here"

Li Long turned to leave Yu Fenglong with excitement and gave his hand. When Yu Fenglong's back disappeared at the corner of the road in the distance, the excitement on Li Long's face immediately disappeared and changed to Taunting looks, what jokes, do you really mean that Li Long doesn't know anything! To say who in the entire court does not want to see the Li Family rise again, it is the Master Yu Fenglong and the Long Family in front of them. The Long Family does not want to see the Li Family gain power again because they do not want the military ministers formed after hard work to oppress the civil servants. The situation was that the Li family was overthrown because of the resurrection of the Li family, and this Master Yu Fenglong was completely because he wanted to grab the monstrous attack from the Li family to welcome the emperor’s return to the south, and he did not hesitate to discredit the Li family. With a fake face and deliberately came with the emperor’s orders, how could Li Long not know his thoughts, but to personally confirm that he had given up his thoughts of returning south with the emperor

"My lord, what shall we do now, the emperor has deprived the adults of his status as special envoys, and asked the adults to take full responsibility for the north of the river. This is not to say that the adults are not allowed to go back to the south!"

A Li guardian asked cautiously beside him, the situation changed too quickly, and the guards couldn’t figure out how the emperor who lived and died a few days ago was like an emperor in the blink of an eye. This time, Deprived of Li Longzhong’s status as the special envoy of Biya, but asked Li Long to stay in the north of the river. This is why Yu Fenglong came here in person.

"Hehe, at this time, these people are still short-sighted to such an extent. They are all in this situation. They still think about fighting for power, completely ignoring the lives and deaths of the millions of refugees stuck in the river." Li Long seemed to think of something , Said non-committal coldly, turned his horse's head, and glanced at the big river behind him

Under the rain, the width of the river channel has expanded. Originally it was only more than a hundred meters wide, but now it is nearly two hundred meters wide. The floating bridge that was originally built on it has now completely collapsed, and the entire river channel is crying. The voices of the sky and the earth, watching the washed-down pontoon floating in the river weep loudly, and some people tried to force their way through the water, but most of them were swept away by the rolling torrents and disappeared in the middle. The heavy rain blocked the heavy rain. The transportation of the river has led to the fact that there are still a large number of Zhongbian people still stranded in the north of the river, and these remaining people are either the most miserable among the refugees, the lowest status slaves during the rule of the Yelu family, or those The part of the so-called traitors who once helped the Yelv family to suppress the people of China and Biyah, now afraid of the fall of the autumn and refusing to cross the river. This time the Yelu family cleaned up the Zhongbian people, but regardless of their status, they were all driven out. The same Zhongbian people who took refuge in the steppe people when they went south did not escape the fate of being driven away.

"Li Jiakang, how many people have passed since the Yelv family ordered the expulsion to today?"

Li Long retracted his gaze from the direction of the Dahe Dao, and asked the guard captain with a Guozi face behind him. Regarding the situation of the Dahe Dao, this captain named Li Jiakang was the person in charge of monitoring. He was a full 100. Fifty Li family guards, at intervals of one person per mile, monitored the situation of the refugees returning from the south, and in the south of the river, the Li family’s eyeliner had also been monitoring the situation of the entire river.

"A group of fifty people under the group have been staring in the direction of the Dahe Dao. It has been exactly ten days since Yelv’s drove to the south. It is conservatively estimated that the number of refugees who have crossed the Dahe Dao is seven or eight. Between millions, "The captain of the guard paused cautiously and continued." According to the report sent by the family from the observation point in the south of the river one day ago, the number of people was roughly the same. However, due to lack of food, these have survived. The refugees in the river channel have not been resettled. The area near the river channel is already overcrowded. If it were not for the 300,000 Chinese and Bianya army to press on the river channel, it would have been impossible to clean up."

"Three hundred thousand troops, seven or eight million refugees, even if the Central Biya court took out all the food, it would insist on it for a month. Now that the army is suppressing it, the situation can still be controlled. The food was emptied, and the army was not only withdrawn, but when the turmoil broke out.” Li Long took a deep breath, smiled coldly, and complained about the unfair treatment he suffered. These people wanted to see the Li family. The joker, I was afraid that it would be too late to cry. The whole court thought that the Li family would use this opportunity to welcome the emperor to return to the south. In fact, it was completely wrong, and it was wrong.

The opportunity for the resurrection of the Li family was not at all the emperor’s return to the south, and the great turmoil of the millions of refugees after the food was exhausted was when the court was completely overwhelmed and had to buy food from the empire, Li Long As the full-power person in charge of the North of the Great River Road in Zhongbia, this seemingly joke-like position will be the key figure in the life and death of the entire Zhongbia. When the Zhongbia court wakes up, it has long been unable to control it. In this situation, there is Li Yuehua on the imperial side, Li Long on the Chinese side, and both of the Li family. Even if the Chinese side wants a temporary replacement, Li Yuehua can use this to refuse to sell grain to the Chinese side. When the time comes, the Li family Resurrection is unstoppable!

"The empire promised to sell us grain, but it sold us grain at five times the high price of available grain. If the money is not enough, let us use the tax rights of the six coastal ports to mortgage it. In the main hall, the emperor has not yet returned south, but the documents sent back from the empire regarding the purchase of food have caused an uproar in the entire court,

Prime Minister Longpo’s face was pale, and he placed the empire’s documents on the table. Now it is the time when the empire’s documents are not available. The price of food is already shocking, but with the news that tens of millions of people from China and Bahrain are returning south. , The price of food in various places has risen almost all the way. So far, it has more than doubled the original price. Now, the empire has to double the current price by five times, even if it is a dragon who does not understand housekeeping. I also feel that this is an impossible condition to accept. Even if the government treasury is emptied, I am afraid that half of it will not be raised. But if you don’t buy food from the empire, at this time, who else can have it? So much food is sold to China and Biya

The other ministers looked at each other one by one. Under Long Pohong’s fearful gaze, the minister in charge of the internal affairs had to bite the bullet and said, "Where is the empire selling food, it is simply taking advantage of the fire, five times the price of food. According to the weight of the food purchased, it is an astronomical figure, which is more than 50 million empire gold coins."

"50 million empire gold coins..."

Long Po’s face is also a look of astonishment that is difficult to conceal. Because of its usefulness and the huge circulation range, whether it is Central Piazza, Oubaro, or even the people in the steppes in the north, they all recognize the circulation of the Empire gold coins. Therefore, the imperial gold coin is now a recognized currency. As the head of the Southwest Dragon family, Longpo knows the annual income of the Southwest region, which is less than 10 million yuan. Compare it with that. What a huge price you need to pay for selling food this time,

"How much is left in the treasury?" Long Po walked back and forth a few times, stopped and asked

Another minister of the Cabinet of Ministers stood up with a disastrous face and said, "50 million empire gold coins are absolutely impossible. Even in the heyday of Central and Bahia, that is the total income of a good year, and now, Not only did we lose the most prosperous Imperial Capital, the entire central and northern part, and even one-third of the southern part were destroyed in the last time the Yelvjia crossed the river to attack Linhang. The refugees over a million were only just in the first two months. After the resettlement, the national treasury spent more than 10 million to settle these refugees, and this year’s tax has not yet been collected. Where can I find these 50 million imperial gold coins? If you can come up with two or three million, it’s the sky. This is because the taxes on the six coastal cities have been collected in advance."

"It's not that the tax revenues of the six coastal cities are generally around 5 million. How come there are only two or three million this year?" Hearing the words of the cabinet ministers, Long Po's eyes flashed, and his tone was cold. The air in the main hall is a bit cold

"This..." The cabinet minister also felt that he had missed his words, and his face turned pale. The six port cities refer to the six major ports in the southern coastal region of Central Bahia. The Chinese Empire is not good at sea trade, so it does not attach importance to these six port cities. However, with the substantial shrinkage of the Central and Bianya region, the two imperial capitals have been broken, and the fiscal revenue has dropped sharply, now even the original three points. Without one of them, the tax revenues of the six port cities were revealed at once, accounting for more than one-fifth of the current tax revenue of the Central and Bahia courts.

Originally, Long Po thought that despite the fluctuations this year, the revenue of the six ports should be 4 to 5 million. He did not expect to hear the words of the Cabinet of Ministers, and suddenly felt cold. Tens of millions of refugees need Resettlement requires food. Although the tax revenues of the six port cities are not enough, they can at least be eased for a while. They are like life-saving straws, but unexpectedly, they have shrunk by nearly half. The six ports that originally had five million tax revenues are now There are only two or three million, and you can know it without thinking about Longpo. I don't know how many hands have intercepted and divided it. When is it, these people are so unscrupulous to such an extent!

The blue veins on Long Po's forehead are bulging, and the people in the entire hall are silent. You can feel how strong the murderous intention of the first general in China and Biyah is to kill, and the minister is even more so. I trembled unbearably, and said in a crying voice, "Prime Minister, this matter really has nothing to do with my Cabinet. Last year, Liuchenggang tax revenue was more than 5 million yuan, but it was collected by the Song people early this year. In half a year, what is left is two to three million."

"Get up," Long Po gritted his teeth and waved his hand vigorously. I know that the Song nationality once swept a part of the material and property when they evacuated from the court, but I didn't expect that the Song nationality would also take away the taxation of Liuchenggang. I still feel softer, and I should intercept everything that the Song people want to take away.

"Your Prime Minister, in fact, we want to buy food, not just the empire." A minister hesitated and stood up and said, "It is said that there are big merchants from the Kingdom of Aden in the six port cities, rich But the enemy country, we can buy food from them!"

"Buy food from the people of Aden?" Long Po hesitated. He didn't know the foreign trade at all.

"This is absolutely impossible!" A middle-aged minister stood up and said decisively, "I have served as an administrative officer in Liucheng Port for six years, knowing that the goods of the Aden businessmen are all from Aden~IndoMTL.com~ It is transported by sea-going vessels, not to mention the high cost, and the quantity that can be transported is even more limited. For such a quantity of grain, if it is transported by horse-drawn carriage, it will cost three or four thousand, and transport by large ships will require more than hundreds of ships. , You want those big businessmen in Aden to give up carrying expensive goods and use hundreds of large ships to transport food to us. It’s hard to say that the price is ten times higher. On the contrary, there is a way to try it. If it succeeds, you may be able to. Temporarily make up for the shortage of tax collection in Liucheng Port"

"What method?" Hearing that it could make up for the tax loss, Long Po's voice was solemn and couldn't help but eagerly asked

"Last year, the Aden navy attacked my coastal city. In that case, we can use this as an excuse to copy the wealth of these big businessmen in Aden. We dare not say how much, but we have to fill in the missing taxes. Absolutely there is"

"Isn't this tantamount to a war with the people of Aden?"

Long grinned at the corner of his mouth and his heart was indeed a little emotional, but the country of Aden, he has also heard in the southwest, is the overlord of the southern waters, has countless large ships, and has repeatedly crossed the waters to harass the coastal areas of China and Biya. The Navy of the Kingdom of Aden, Longpo has to consider

At this moment, a court guard rushed in and said out of breath, "Report, there is a riot in the Dahedao area. Just this morning, hundreds of thousands of refugees from the south wanted to eat. Gathered outside Huangcheng Mansion, where the army was stocking up, the chief officer of Huangcheng Mansion strictly ordered the garrison to drive out the refugees. As a result, conflicts occurred. More than one thousand garrisons of Huangcheng Mansion were beaten to death by the refugees. The stock of food was divided up, and then Kucheng County in Linhuangcheng Mansion was also attacked by the refugees. The residents in the county were looted by the refugees, and the residents suffered numerous casualties. Urgent reports also came from the Taizhou Army Village. The refugees were moving towards the Taizhou Army. There may be a million people gathered in the village..."8